#F1 Victims of Circumstance: Shanghai 2015 – #ChineseGP

[For those who are new to the page; TJ13 attempts to remove certain aspects of the race to give a fairer reflection of the race result.]

Not one to entice new fans into the sport with the exciting racing, the Chinese Grand Prix left a lot to be desired. Those who woke up early (in the UK) on the Sunday morning were sorely disappointed, but there is no reason we should all be so down about this. The Shanghai circuit has never produced that greater racing so why should this year be any different?

The biggest positive to take is that we are now one race closer to the European leg of the season, which members of the Silverstone team, Force India, cannot wait for. The further delay to the VJM07 means Manor could end up very close to beating the Mercedes powered team. Nobody would have predicted that two months ago…

So what really happened?

Max Verstappen: Having made a few desperate moves which, fortunately for the flying Dutchman, came off without any hitches, it was ironic that the car should end up being stopped by its own engine. The Renault powertrain gave up only a few laps from the end, which Verstappen could have done nothing to prevent. He is reinstated to 8th place.

Pastor Maldonado: Missing the pit lane used to be Hamilton’s party trick, but Pastor refused to be left out. He was running ahead of his teammate after the first set of pit stops, but once more could not see it through. Eventually when he was crashed out of the race it was not his fault, but he can only be reinstated to 15th place.

Daniil Kvyat: The weekly Kvyat BBQ came very early in the race, this time at the end of the 1.2km straight in Shanghai. 3 races and 3 engines down, it’s going to be a long season for the Russian. He is reinstated to 11th place.

Nico Hulkenberg: Forced out with a gearbox failure early in the race he never was able to show us how well he could have done. Data suggests he would have finished a net 13th place.

The Verdict
This leaves the revised results table looking like this:

Revised Race Position

Driver

Result comparison

Points

Points Difference

Grid Position

Start

RevisedPosition

1

Lewis Hamilton

=

25

=

1

1

2

Nico Rosberg

=

18

=

2

2

3

Sebastian Vettel

=

15

=

3

3

4

Kimi Raikkonen

=

12

=

6

4

5

Felipe Massa

=

10

=

4

5

6

Valtteri Bottas

=

8

=

5

6

7

Romain Grosjean

=

6

=

8

7

8

Max Verstappen

RETIRED

4

+4

13

8

9

Felipe Nasr

-1

2

-2

9

9

10

Daniel Ricciardo

-1

1

-1

7

10

11

Daniil Kvyat

RETIRED

0

=

12

11

12

Marcus Ericsson

-2

0

-1

10

12

13

Nico Hulkenberg

RETIRED

0

=

16

13

14

Sergio Perez

-3

0

=

15

14

15

Pastor Maldonado

RETIRED

0

=

11

15

16

Fernando Alonso

-4

0

=

18

16

17

Carlos Sainz Jr

-4

0

=

14

17

18

Jenson Button

-4

0

=

17

18

19

Will Stevens

-4

0

=

19

19

20

Roberto Merhi

-4

0

=

20

20

Below, the revised World Drivers’ Championship:

Driver

Revised WDC

WDC Points Difference

Position

Points

Lewis Hamilton

1

68

=

Sebastian Vettel

2

55

=

Nico Rosberg

3

51

=

Kimi Raikkonen

4

34

+10

Felipe Massa

5

30

=

Valtteri Bottas

6

18

=

Romain Grosjean

7

14

+8

Max Verstappen

8

11

+5

Felipe Nasr

9

8

-6

Carlos Sainz Jr

10

6

=

Daniel Ricciardo

11

6

-5

Daniil Kvyat

12

2

=

Nico Hulkenberg

13

0

-6

Marcus Ericsson

14

0

-5

Sergio Perez

15

0

-1

Jenson Button

16

0

=

Fernando Alonso

17

0

=

Pastor Maldonado

18

0

=

Roberto Merhi

19

0

=

Will Stevens

20

0

=

*Those with 0 points will not be ordered

What they would have said

I would be writing how commentators would be falling over themselves in compliments and comparisons for Toro Rosso flyer, Max Verstappen, if he had finished, but they did that anyway without the strong finish. Am I the only one who thinks these plaudits and comparisons to heroes of years gone by are coming far too early?

Had Rosberg been undercut by Vettel and lost track position he would almost certainly have been able to retake 2nd position, as the Ferrari struggled to switch on the prime tyre. In the end it really did not matter anyway, so all’s well that ends well.

Quote of the Day

This week the quote comes from Christian author and speaker Joyce Meyer, who said, “Patience is not the ability to wait but how you act while you’re waiting.”

It may not have been the best of races, but luckily we don’t have to wait too long until the next one! In the meantime, as F1 fans we should not berate the sport we love, but look forward to better times instead. Let’s hope Bahrain is another stormer…but not a sandstorm which it’s looking likely to be.

I agree with the placement of Max. Maldonado botched the pit entry and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. So despite the accident not being his fault, I would have left him where he ended the race. He was a victim of his own driving.